Extreme Weight Loss Bob September 3 (Review)

On Tuesday’s Extreme Weight Loss, Bob, a Wisconsin police detective, is featured. He needs to lose weight both for his health and to be able to pass a fitness test called the “Fit for Duty” test that is required for him to pass to keep his job. At the start of the show, he can’t pass the test, and he needs help from Chris Powell to succeed.

Bob, 41, is a decorated detective. He says he’s a good husband, a good detective, a good football coach, but he says he “just can’t figure out” losing weight. He’s over 200 pounds overweight.

He was an offensive lineman in school, but to get bigger, he had to increase his intake of calories. Then, when the pads came out, he didn’t stop eating.

Bob tells the camera that his wife, Kelly, has been there for him, but “I feel that I’ve failed her.”

“I don’t want to go there, and think about what this family would be like without him. He’s a rock. Without him, I don’t know how strong I’d be,” his wife says to the camera.

“I’ve tried every diet plan out there. I’ve been successful at some, and have probably lost 500 pounds. But, I’ve probably gained back 700,” Bob says.

He adds: “I need to make that change, and I can’t do it by myself.” He says he needs Chris to help him, that he’s seen Chris do wonders with other people.

Chris surprises him, arriving to meet him dressed as a policeman. He says: “Not in my town,” when he sees that Bob has gotten fast food for himself and his entire family.

Chris puts on the siren, and pulls Bob’s car over. Chris tells him that the fast food is making him fat and old before his time, and tells Bob to step out of the car.

“It’s important that Bob remembers the athlete, the football player inside of him,” Chris says to the camera. He asks Bob how much weight he’d like to lose, and get down to, and Bob says he’d like to weigh 235 pounds.

When he steps on the scale, Bob weighs in at 448 pounds. “That’s why I’m here,” Bob says. “I needed to swallow my pride. I want to be there for my wife and children.”

“It’s awesome to work with an individual like Bob, who’s motivated,” Chris says. “His obesity is threatening his life, and his job,” Chris says.

Bob meets with the nutritionist, who tells Bob he should substitute some of the foods he eats for vegetables. Chris gives him the Walmart gift card to buy food for the entire year, as he does for all of the participants on the show.

When Chris meets with the doctor, he tells the doctor that he’s had knee surgery, and that he’s still had problems with his knee.

“I’m excited to try to break through that wall again,” Bob says, meaning to get back to exercising and working out.

“Feel that weight, Bob! Feel that weight! Get it across the line! Feel what you’ve done to yourself!” Chris yells at Bob, to push a sledge.

Then Chris has him do sandbag drill, and Bob falls

“I just heard a pop! I just heard a pop!” Chris yells.

“I can finish!” Bob says.

But Chris tells him that he needs to stop right there.

“This isn’t happening,” Bob says.

“Has this whole thing ended as fast as it began?” Chris wonders out loud to the camera.

The doctor meets with Bob, and tells him “There’s a lot of damage in that knee.”

“You’re going to need to make a pretty big decision here,” the doctor adds.

Bob has a decision to make — he has a torn meniscus, and it will take him a lot more work to push past the pain of his knee, if he continues. Chris offers him the chance to wait out a year, and come back the next season.

“Bob has torn his left ACL,” Chris tells the camera.

“I made a promise to you. I made a promise to myself, my wife, and my kids. I will continue on,” Bob tells Chris.

Chris says: “That’s what I call transformation. A person who desires it so bad — if he doesn’t have his health, he doesn’t have anything.” Chris tells the camera.

“The thing about Bob — he can’t run, he can’t lift weights. There was definitely some damage done,” Chris says to the camera.

Bob is astonished to see the renovations that Chris’s team has made to his house. He has machines ther like a rowing machine, that will be easier on his knee.

“I challenge you to lose 125 pound in 90 days,” Chris tells him.

“That is just five pounds more than I weighed in college,” Bob says.

“I’ll send you to an exotic location if you meet your 90-day goal,” Chris tells him

“I have to keep pulling the reins back on him,” Chris tells the camera. “I don’t want him to hurt himself.”

Bob says to the camera that his son and wife are also trying to get fit and eat right. He says that his daughter should also lose weight, but she tells him “I’m 19. You just can’t push me into doing something I don’t want to do.”

“Let’s face it. Obesity is a terrible thing. It can take your family away, your job away, your life away,” he tells the camera.

His daughter is not ready to accept what Bob is telling her, and she gets angry at him and leaves the room. Bob only wants to be a good father, and help steer his family in the right direction towards a more healthy lifestyle; but, his daughter isn’t yet ready to embrace that change.

The days go by. On Day 53, doing lunges with dumbbells — which he’s not supposed to do — he hurts his other knee.

“I don’t know if I can do this,” Bob tells the camera.

The doctor checks out his knee and tells him he has a torn meniscus, and that surgery is usually done.

“He can have it scoped out, cleaned out, or — he can just deal with it,” Chris tells the camera.

Bob answers Chris, saying: “I’m not going to let obesity win. I’m going to fight through it. Buddy, if I have to crawl to get to my goal, that’s what I’m going to do. This is so important — this is my life, this is my job. I’m going through with it.”

Chris has Bob swim, which is the best exercise for him that won’t put too much stress on his knee. Bob also works out with the punching bag, and doing bench presses, and rowing on the rowing machine.

“The guy just has the mentality of an athlete. Physically, I know he can find that place. But, Bob just can’t run — the one exercise that burns the most calories,” Chris tells the camera, sounding worried that Bob might not meet his Phase 1 goal.

Bob brings his entire family to see his 90-day weigh-in. If the scale says 323 pounds or less, you’ve met your first goal,” Chris tells him. Chris looks dejected, and looks down at the ground –then, there are commercials, just when Bob’s weight is about to be revealed.

“125 pounds was your weight goal,” Chris says after the commercial break. “But, you did it! 126 pounds, and he can’t even run! I am dumbfounded!” Then, he adds: “Your Phase 2 goal is to lose 72 pounds.”

“The last time I weighed 252 pounds I was 16 years old and I had just gotten my driver’s license,” Bob says.

“For Phase 2, you’re on your own,” Chris tells him. “You hit your goal, and I told you I would give you something. You will spend your 20th wedding anniversary in one of the most romantic cities in the world — Paris, France. Also, I’ve set up a milestone challenge — you and I will cycle the last 75 miles (120 km) of the Tour d’ France.”

Bob goes back to wrok for the first time in 3 months. He puts on his bulletproof vest — it fits now — it hadn’t fit before he lost the initial weight. “Take the vest,” his wife says. “Get in the habit.”

The first day in, Bob attempts to bring in a guy, Jeff, who’s a “Dangerous dude,” and weighs 165 pounds. “He’s a violent guy. He’s a convicted felon,” Bob says.

Bob makes sure the guy gets on his motorcycle far enough away from a residential area to not harm any citizens. Jeff takes off.

“Jeff!” Bob Brenner yells at him. “Stop! Stop right now!” but, Jeff is running, trying to evade the police. Bob takes off, chasing him — then, there are more commercials.

“Get on the ground! Stop resisting! You’re going to get hurt!” Bob says, tackling him to the ground.

“Six months ago, I don’t believe that I could have done that,” Bob says. “This is just the beginning. This transformation is bringing my life back.”

Then, we see Bob and his best friend, Ryan, swimming across a lake for the Wounded Warrior Project. They raise $5,000.

Next, we see Bob and his wife in Pairs, France, where they meet Chris for his 6-month weigh-in. Chris is wearing a blue beret, a scarf, white sweater, and black gloves — looking very French.

Bob steps on the scale for his weigh-in. Chris gasps, and, of course, there are the obligatory commercials.

“Oh, so close!” Chris tell him. He weighs in at 260 pounds, 8 pounds shy of the 252 pounds he needed to reach. “For your next weight loss goal, I want you to lose 36 pounds,” Chris tells him

“What a great way to be celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary,” Bob tells his wife, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower. He give her earrings with ten diamonds in each, twenty diamonds in all, one for each year of their marriage.

“I think I can honestly say that if my wife wasn’t a part of this project…I knew I needed to lose weight to be healthier, and a better husband for her,” Bob tells the camera.

“It’s freezing cold,” Chris tells the camera the day that they both will ride the 75 miles of the Tour d’ France.

“I’m a little nervous, because I know Bob is a machine, and he’s been training hard. I’ve got butterflies in my stomach, because this is a true challenge,” Chris says.

“I’ve never seen a contestant outdo Chris Powell,” Bob tells the camera. “But, maybe in this case…”

“This is the first time that I’ve ever had a client outperform me in a milestone,” Chris says. “But, I’m happy for him.”

“Bob could care less what the scale says. But, he want s to live again. For the first time in twenty years, he’s living again.”

“We see Paris, right in front of us. It was breath-taking — a moment I’ll never forget,” Chris tells the camera.

“At that moment, Bob was not even a client anymore. He’s my friend. And, we’re there, together, in the last stage of the Tour d’ France,” Chris says.

“We made it!” Bob tells his wife, who’s there waiting him at the end of the 75 miles.

“Doing the last stage of the Tour d’ France was probably one of the best achievements in my life,” Bob says to the camera. They have a group hug at the end.

“The trip really inspired me and my wife to take additional trips,” Bob says.He jokes around that they’ll use the money that they’ve set aside for the kids’ education; but, he tells his kids (to the camera) to not worry, they’ll still save the money.

“I think I need to pick up the intensity of my workouts and work seven days a week,” Bob tells the camera.

Chris watches him, via video, and says he’s not supposed to be doing that, working out using his knees.

The doctor tells Chris that Bob needs to have the knee surgery, even though he’s in Phase three of the year-long journey.

Chris is very concerned that Bob might fall back into his old eating habits. when they meet again, after the surgery, Chris tells him if he’s lost the 36 pounds, he will have lost over 50 percent of his original body weight.

“Oh, my God! That’s awesome@ Chris says. He’s lost 40 pounds, and is down to 220 pounds. He’s lost 228 pounds, almost 58 percent of his body weight.

“That was really hard, to think about that guy who was struggling. Just daily life was a struggle for him I look at that guy, and I kind of feel sorry for him,” Bob says tot he camera, looking back at how he used to be like.

“I’m done with being obese, with having my joints hurt all of the time. I want to be with my wife. I’m done being the fat guy. I’m done with being overweight. I want to be good to myself, and that’s why I’m here,” Bob says, breaking down emotionally.

“I’m such a blessed man, to have you in my life,” he tells Chris. “To have you, my wife, and my family.”

“You created it,man!” Chris tells him. “Thanks for making it happen.”

There’s a huge crowd waiting to see Bob at the end of the year-long weight-loss journey. Chris tells them that “Bob played football, right here on this field.”

He tells the audience about Bob’s life, and then says: “Who’s ready to see Bob?” as the car pulls up with Bob in it.

“Ladies and gentlemen, it is my honor and my privilege to introduce the new Bob!” Bob looks very slim, and is wearing a black suit with a pink shirt.

“You truly saved my life. You’re a blessing to me, and I’m proud to call you a friend — and, a brother,” Bob tells Chris.

“You’re on track to break one of my records, of how much a male has lost who’s been one of my clients. You were just nine pounds away the last time you got weighed. If you weigh less than 211 pounds, that record belongs to you!” Chris tells him.

Then, as Bob gets on the scales, and Chris reads the result, he yells out: “There it is!”

Bob’s final weight is 195 pounds. “Oh, my gosh! Wow!” Chris can’t help but exclaim. “You just blew the old record out of the water! You lost 253 pounds. You’re proof that if you want it badly enough, you can make anything happen!”

“I’d like to cal to the stage the best friend in your life, your wife, Kelly. Between the two of you, you’ve lost over 300 pounds. My friends at Walmart have been so impressed with you, they’ve done something a little special.”

Chris leaves the stage, and comes back with two bicycles for them to ride together.

“Now, this is definitely going to help you out with the active part,” Chris tells them, then he gives them a git card form Walmart for $25,000.

“We’ve got some unfinished business,” Chris tells him. He asks Bob to get changed, and then try to pass the official “Fit for Duty” test. He has to finish the test within the time period of around two minutes (I didn’t hear exactly how much time he had).

He easily does it, and is told at the end that he’s officially passed the test! Woo-hoo! Great job, Bob — congratulations!

This episode marks the last one of the season, and it was a truly great one, and an inspirational one. I’m sad to see the season end, but I was glad to hear that it’s been picked up for another season — I can hardly wait to see what happens next year on Extreme Weight Loss!

This was a good episode, however I do feel that his daughter should be more respectful of her father. Living at home at 19 years old – rolling her eyes at him and being so disrespectful (especially on TV) was just wrong. She should have supported him more and should be right beside him exercising and eating right!